Cauliflower & N’duja Fritters

Another weekend’s past and another Sunday where I drink coffee and write/work until my stomach springs into action and demands something to eat, whereby I have to get up, hit the shops and rustle up whatever that thing is. I’ve discovered there’s no point in planning, as it turns out my food cravings are whimsical as you like and fail to transfer across days/times. Unless, of course, it’s one of those ideas I’ve been harbouring and evolving all week, whereby the anticipation and creation of whatever dish it is can be almost juicier and more satisfying than in the eating, that is always over far too quickly.

This time it is fritters, prompted I’m not sure by what, they’re something never far from my kitchen, and I fancied cauliflower. A nice cauliflower and feta (I had some in the fridge) number sounded just the thing to fuel a Sunday spent procrastinating on the sofa. However a quick google for a recipe yielded tonnes of the little blighters and they immediately lost their attractiveness. Contrary, moi? Luckily a fridge excavation rewarded me with a slab of n’duja, bought from a stall at Borough the day before, which I’d promptly forgotten about, and so the following recipe was decided upon.

N’duja is a dream to cook with, lending a boisterous fiery and meaty kick to all manner of recipes. A comment from the lovely @SabrinaGhayour on Twitter that ‘anything n’duja touches turns to gold’ is nearly correct; she may have been commenting on the ingredients wonder qualities but in reality it also turns literally everything it comes into contact with an aggressively lurid orange. I almost add cheese to the mix but instead keep it simple with a smattering of nigella as I love their subtle flavour; the mild cauli and spicy Calabrian sausage need no help here, they’ve got each others culinary backs. I add cheese instead to a simple kitchen foraged salad of beetroot, feta, artichoke hearts and pea shoots.

Makes 2 portions

around 250g cauliflower

2 tablespoons plain flour

half teaspoon baking powder

1 egg beaten

around 30g n’duja

nigella seeds

seasoning

oil for frying

Break cauliflower into florets then boil for around 5 minutes, pat dry with kitchen towel then mash so it’s broken down into little pieces but not smooth. Put into a large bowl then and add the n’duja torn into tiny pieces, egg, flour, baking powder, salt and pepper and a handful of nigella seeds. Mix to combine.

Heat oil in a large pan, then scoop the mixture, in heaped spoonfuls into the pan, you should get around 6. Squish down to flatten then continue to fry until they’re cooked through and both sides are golden and crunchy.

Not bad at all with a chilled glass of rose on a sunny Spring day in London!